by Dana Gentry, Corvallis
Concerning open primaries, I wish they were closed. They confuse voters as candidates can register to vote on any party ticket, and not even be in agreement with the party’s tenets. This has happened a lot in our 2025 legislative session, where supposed Republican candidates were elected and voted against basic Republican ideals (ex. lower government spending, lower taxes). So even though the voters send a Republican majority, the imposters voted against many Republican bills causing them not to pass. By closing the primaries, and letting only Republicans vote for their own candidates, it would eliminate crossover voting where other parties can decide which “Republican” moves on.
Representative Bedey, HD 86 is one such example. Not only does he choose to vote against about 30% of the Republican bills, he receives campaign support from several Democrat leaning entities, including his campaign manager, Fireweed Campaigns. The owner, Lauren Caldwell, was the former director of a committee that was dedicated to electing Democrats to the Legislature. In my opinion, candidates that run on the Republican ballot should be loyal to the Republican party and not be beholden to donor’s contrary interests.
The MTGOP platform is reviewed every 2 years, and represents the values of the majority of Republicans statewide. It is the glue to the party. If a candidate can’t or won’t pledge to uphold those values, why not run as an independent? Those of us who agree with the platform tenets need to be careful who we vote for. I’ll be supporting Kathy Love and Kim Dailey.
Stephen N Leuchtman says
Dana:
I see your piece and several others like it, almost like they’re cookie cutter posts sent out by the Regiers up in Kalispell, and it reminds me of the old adage often attributed to Mark Twain, “a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has had a chance to get its’ shoes on.”
David Bedey is no Democrat, there’s a Democrat on the ballot in SD 43, me. Your words are an insult to him and to me. Dave voted for dozens of bills over his time in the Legislature that no Democrat would ever vote for. No self-respecting Democrat would refer to themselves as a Reagan Republican.
The mess that we have started with Reagan, and we aren’t going to fix it with half measures. I respect David’s service both to our country in the Army and to my house district as a Representative, but he’s no Democrat, never has been, and he isn’t the stick figure radical that disgraceful smears from out of state dark money groups have painted him to be. And frankly we need new and better ideas in the State Senate, which is why I’m running against him and Rep. Love.
mark says
Thanks for the warning. I’ll vote for the candidate who votes for his constituents.
Not for the candidate who votes straight GOP party line.. Sorry but I’m tired of the Birch Society. Freedom Cauc’s telling everybody else there not conservative enough.